System and method for validating an electrical network model

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for validating electrical network models are provided. Systems include a memory configured to store electrical network model data for an electrical network. The electronic device also includes data processing circuitry configured to define in the memory an electrical network model object based, at least in part, on the electrical network model data. The data processing circuitry is further configured to create copies of the electrical network model object in the memory, wherein each copy of the electrical network model object corresponds to a respective set of rules, and wherein each set of rules independently defines a plurality of constraints relating to at least a portion of a plurality of parameters of the electrical network. The data processing circuitry is further configured to determine, in parallel, whether each copy of the electrical network model object is valid with respect to the corresponding set of rules.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to electrical networks, andmore specifically, to validating models of electrical networks.

A utility company may control many aspects of an electrical networkunder its management. For example, the utility company may control whichcomponents are present in the electrical network (e.g., power sources,transmission lines, transformers, capacitors, switches, and the like),how these components are relatively positioned and connected relative toone another within the electrical network, and how these componentsoperate. Accordingly, the utility company may, at various points intime, desire to alter one or more parameters of the electrical network.That is, the utility company may desire to add components to or removecomponents from the electrical network, change the connectivity ofcomponents in the electrical network, or change the operationalparameters of the components of the electrical network when performingmaintenance, upgrades, or repairs to the electrical network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Certain embodiments commensurate in scope with the originally claimedinvention are summarized below. These embodiments are not intended tolimit the scope of the claimed invention, but rather these embodimentsare intended only to provide a brief summary of possible forms of theinvention. Indeed, the invention may encompass a variety of forms thatmay be similar to or different from the embodiments set forth below.

In one embodiment, a system for validating electrical network model dataincludes a communication interface that receives electrical networkmodel data with parameters that define the structure and operation of anelectrical network. A memory stores the electrical network model data.Data processing circuitry defines, in memory, an electrical networkmodel object using the electrical network model data. The dataprocessing circuitry creates copies of the electrical network modelobject in the memory. Each copy of the electrical network model objectcorresponds to a respective set of rules, and each set of rulesindependently defines a plurality of constraints relating to at least aportion of the plurality of parameters of the electrical network. Thedata processing circuitry then determines, in parallel, whether eachcopy of the electrical network model object is valid with respect to thecorresponding set of rules.

In another embodiment, a method for validating an electrical networkmodel includes receiving an electrical network model defining parametersof an electrical network. An electrical network model object is createdin memory from the electrical network model. A first duplicate of theelectrical network model object corresponding to a first independentrule set is created in memory. A second duplicate of the electricalnetwork model object corresponding to a second independent rule set iscreated in memory. The first and second independent rule sets definerequirements for the plurality of parameters of the electrical network.The first duplicate of the electrical network model object is validatedagainst the first independent rule set while the second duplicate of theelectrical network model object is simultaneously validated against thesecond independent rule set.

In another embodiment, an article of manufacture includes one or morecomputer-readable media storing instructions to determine the validityof an electrical network model. The instructions include instructions tocreate an object in a memory corresponding to a received electricalnetwork model. They also include instructions to create a number ofobject instances, and each of the object instances corresponds to one ofa number of rule sets. The rule sets include electrical phase, networkconnectivity, and power transformation rules sets that respectivelydefine a number of independent electrical phase, network connectivity,and power transformation constraints of the electrical network model.The instructions further include instructions to execute, in parallel,each rule set against the corresponding object instance. Instructionsare also included to store the electrical model and the results of theexecution of the rule sets in an electronic storage when all of the rulesets have successfully executed against the object instances.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood when the following detaileddescription is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in whichlike characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustrating a model version manager (MVM) system,in accordance with an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustrating an electrical network, in accordancewith an embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a model version manager (MVM)application, in accordance with an embodiment; and

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a process by which the MVMapplication may validate an electrical network, in accordance with anembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

One or more specific embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed below. In an effort to provide a concise description of theseembodiments, all features of an actual implementation may not bedescribed in the specification. It should be appreciated that in thedevelopment of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering ordesign project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be madeto achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance withsystem-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from oneimplementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that sucha development effort might be complex and time consuming, but wouldnevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, andmanufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of thisdisclosure.

When introducing elements of various embodiments of the presentinvention, the articles “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are intended tomean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,”“including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean thatthere may be additional elements other than the listed elements.

When a utility company that is responsible for managing electricalnetwork desires to alter one or more parameters of the electricalnetwork, the utility company may utilize software to model the newparameters of the electrical network to ensure that the resultingmodified electrical network will be functional. For example, a utilitycompany may utilize an electrical network model to predict the behaviorof a modified electrical network having a particular transformer with adifferent power rating than the corresponding transformer in the currentelectrical network. By modeling the modified electrical network, theutility company may be able to predict how the modification affects theremainder of the electrical network, which may help improve maintenanceefficiency, reduce maintenance costs, and minimize electrical networkdown-time.

Accordingly, the present disclosure is directed toward a system andmethod for validating electrical network models. That is, as presentlydisclosed, for an electrical network model to be valid (i.e., functionaland error-free), it should comply with a number of rules that define theconstraints (e.g., physical and design limitations) of the electricalnetwork and/or the electrical network model. For example, these rulesmay define the data structure, electrical phase, network connectivity,and power transformation constraints for the electrical network modeland the electrical network represented. Generally speaking, thepresently disclosed rule-based validation technique may offerflexibility to define custom rules as well as the ability to update,insert, or delete rules to modify the constraints on the electricalnetwork and/or the electrical network model.

Additionally, these electrical network models may become quite large(e.g., tens to hundreds or even thousands of megabytes of data) andrequire a significant amount time to validate against each rule in aserialized fashion. As such, the present disclosure is directed towardcreating an object in memory from an electrical network model, and thenverifying sets of rules against separate instances of this object inparallel. By simultaneously validating several copies of the electricalnetwork model object, the time spent validating the electrical networkmodel may be significantly reduced. Furthermore, executing these sets ofrules against the multiple instances of the object enables theutilization of distributed computing techniques to the electricalnetwork model validation problem for enhanced efficiency.

With the foregoing in mind, FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a modelversion manager 10 which is generally configured to receive, validate,and store electrical network models. In the example of FIG. 1, theillustrated MVM system 10 is an embodiment of a system configured toreceive information regarding the parameters of an electrical network(i.e., electrical network model 14) from a remote system 12communicatively coupled to the MVM system 10 (e.g., via networkinterface 16). For example, the remote system 12 may be a geographicinformation system (GIS), a distributed management system (DMS), or anoutage management system (OMS), or other type of that may storeinformation regarding the configuration of an electrical network in theform of an electrical network model 14. Furthermore, the MVM system 10illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a number of internal components which maybe used to validate and or store the received electrical network model14.

For example, the illustrated MVM system 10 includes a memory 18 and anon-volatile (NV) storage 20 that may be used to store the electricalnetwork model 14 while it is being validated by the processor 22.Furthermore, the processor 22 may execute one or more instructionsstored in memory 18 and/or NV storage 20 when validating the receivedelectrical network model 14. In particular, as discussed in detailbelow, the memory 18 and/or NV storage 20 may store one or more ruleswhich may be used to validate the electrical network model 14. Theprocessor 22 may also execute one or more of these rules against copiesof the electrical network model. That is, in order to validate theelectrical network model, all of the rules should be successfullyexecuted (e.g., by processor 22) against the copies of the electricalnetwork model. Additionally, in certain embodiments, the processor 22may include 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 100, 1000, 10,000, or any suitable numberof computing cores to independently execute instructions to validate acopy of the electrical network model against a set of rules.

Furthermore, an embodiment of a MVM system 10 may, additionally oralternatively, include an electrical network model storage 24 that maystore one or more electrical network models 14 once validated. Incertain embodiments, the electrical network model storage 24 may includea database or version control system. Furthermore, in certainembodiments such a database or version control system may be used tostore validated electrical network models 14 (e.g., as flat files).Additionally, in certain embodiments the electrical network modelstorage 24 may be physically stored within memory 18 and/or NV storage20. In certain embodiments, the electrical network model storage 24 maybe part of a remote system (e.g., remote system 12) and the MVM system10 may store the electrical network model 14 in a memory of the remotesystem 12 after validation.

Furthermore, in certain embodiments the MVM system 10 may include one ormore output devices 26 (e.g., a monitor, flat-panel display, projector,printer, or similar output device) which may output informationregarding the operation of the MVM system 10 and/or the electricalnetwork model validation process. For example, the output device 26 mayinform a user of the successful completion of a validation of theelectrical network model 14 or errors encountered during the validationprocess. Additionally, the illustrated MVM system 10 includes one ormore input devices 28 which may be used to input additional information(e.g., settings and parameters of the validation process, rules,electrical network model information, and the like) which may be usedwhen validating the electrical network model 14.

The electrical network model 14 may include one or more files that haveinformation regarding an electrical network. In certain embodiments, theelectrical network that is described by the electrical network model maybe an electrical network configuration that an electrical utilityprovider desires to implement and, furthermore, desires to validateprior to implementation. In certain embodiments, this electrical networkmodel 14 may be in a common information model (CIM) format and/or anextensible markup language (XML) format. Generally speaking, these filesand may define values for a plurality of attributes or parameters todescribe the electrical network. That is, an electrical network model 14may be one or more XML files that define the connectivity andoperational parameters of the various components of the electricalnetwork.

An electrical network managed by a utility company may have a number ofdifferent electrical components arranged in a particular fashion. Oneexample of such an electrical network 30 is illustrated in FIG. 2.Generally speaking, the illustrated electrical network 30 may bedescribed by the electrical network model 14, which may be validated bythe MVM system 10. In the illustrated electrical network 30, a number ofdifferent components are illustrated electrically coupled to one anotherin a particular fashion. For example, the illustrated electrical network30 includes a power source 32, transformers (e.g., transformers 34A and34B), capacitor 36, switches (e.g., switches 38A and 38B), and loadtransformers (e.g., load transformers 40A-J) coupled at various pointsalong a number of transmission lines 42.

Each component of the illustrated electrical network 30 has one or moreparameters that define the behavior and the limitations of thecomponent. For example, each component may have a location parameterthat describes the relative position and connectivity of the componentin the electrical network 30. By further example, a power source 32 mayhave a number of parameters that define power output limitations, powerphase constraints, and the like. Transformers 34A and 34B may haveparameters that define power ratings, available capacities, and powerphase. Additionally, capacitor 36 may have parameters that define howmuch charge may be stored and/or how quickly it may be charged ordischarged. Also, load transformers 40A-F may each have parameters thatdefine power ratings and/or power phases. Furthermore, transmissionlines 42 may have parameters that define particular voltages, currents,phases, resistances, and capacities at different points in theelectrical network 30. As such, all of the information describing theconnectivity, physical limitations and the operation of each of thecomponents of the electrical network 30 may be included as parameters inthe electrical network model 14.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a model version manager (MVM)application 50. The MVM application 50 which may be stored in memory 18and executed by processor 22 of the MVM system 10 to validate anelectrical network model 14 (e.g., received from a GIS, DMS, or OMSsystem 52). In certain embodiments, some or all of the execution of theMVM application 50 may be distributed across a number of processors andmemories in a distributed computing environment. In the illustratedembodiment, the MVM application 50 receives the electrical network model14 and uses a data transformer 54 to import the received electricalnetwork model 14 and to create an electrical network model object 56 inmemory (e.g., memory 18). The data transformer 54 may include one ormore instructions which may be stored in memory 18 and/or NV storage 20and executed by the processor 22 in order to translate the parameters ofthe electrical network 30 (i.e., defined in the electrical network model14) into an in-memory electrical network model object 56. For example,the data transformer 54 may include an XML parser which may parse andimport the parameters of an electrical network 30 defined in a CIM-XMLelectrical network model data file.

Once the electrical network model object 56 has been defined in memory(e.g., memory 18), a rule executor 58 of the MVM application 50 mayexecute one or more independent rule sets 60 against copies of thein-memory electrical network model object 56. Generally speaking, ifeach of independent rule sets 60 successfully executes against thecorresponding copy of the electrical network model object 56 without anerror, then the electrical network model 14 may be considered valid. Therule executor 58 may include a set of instructions which may be storedin memory 18 and/or NV storage 20 and executed by the processor 22 inorder to validate each copy (e.g., clone or instance) of the electricalnetwork model object 56 against a corresponding one of the independentrule sets 60. It should be noted that utilizing a rules-based validationapproach generally allows a user of the MVM application to (e.g., viainput device 28) define custom rules, and to update, insert, and/ordelete the rules of the independent rule sets 60 at any time before orduring the validation process. By altering these rules, a user mayimmediately modify the desired constraints of the electrical networkand/or the electrical network model. It should be noted that, as usedherein, the term “rule set” generally refers to one or more rules thatan electrical network model follows to be valid. It should also be notedthat, as used herein, the term “independent rule set” refers to a ruleset, wherein the result of the execution of the rules in an independentrule set do not depend on the results of the execution of any otherrules outside the independent rule set. Therefore, an independent ruleset is a set of rules that may be independently validated against a copyof the electrical network model object 56.

As such, the rule executor 58 may make a copy of the in memoryelectrical network model object 56 for each independent rule set in theindependent rule sets 60. By using a separate copy of the electricalnetwork model object 56 to validate each of the independent rule sets60, the MVM application 50 enables the parallel validation of each copyof the electrical network model object 56. That is, since each of therule sets are independent of one another in terms of execution, each ofthe independent rule sets 60 may be executed in parallel against thecorresponding copy of the in-memory electrical network model object 56,affording a significant efficiency improvement over serialized ruleexecution. Furthermore, in certain embodiments in which the MVM system10 includes a processor 22 having multiple processing cores, eachprocessing core of the processor 22 may be used to validate a differentcopy of the electrical network model object 56 against its correspondingindependent rule set.

Accordingly, the presently disclosed technique enables the parallelvalidation of each of the independent rule sets. For example, one ruleset in the independent rule sets 60 may include one or more rules tovalidate the phase of the power delivered throughout the electricalnetwork 30. That is, an electrical phase rule set may ensure that thephases of the power delivered to various points in the electricalnetwork 10 are appropriate and desirable. As such, the rule executor 58may make a copy 62 of the electrical network model object 56 to validatethe electrical phase rule set. By further example, another rule set inthe independent rule sets 60 may include one or more rules to validatenetwork connectivity throughout the electrical network 30. That is, anetwork connectivity rule set may ensure that there are no electricalshort-circuits or islands present within an electrical network 30. Assuch, the rule executor 58 may make a copy 64 of the electrical networkmodel object 56 in order to validate this network connectivity rule set.Additionally, another rule set in the independent rule sets 60 mayinclude one or more rules to validate the transformation of powerthroughout the electrical network 30. That is, a power transformationrule set may ensure that power is appropriately transformed (i.e.,stepped between different voltages) within the electrical network 30(e.g., at transformers 34A-B or at load transformers 40A-J). As such,the rule executor 58 may make a copy 66 of the electrical network modelobject 56 to validate the power transformation rule set. In each case,once the object copy (e.g., object copies 62, 64, or 66) has beencreated, the verification of the object copy against the correspondingindependent rule set may immediately begin. It should be noted that theindependent rule sets described above are examples of independent rulesets 60, and that any number of independent rule sets 60 may be used toverify any aspect of the electrical network model 14 and/or theelectrical network 30.

In certain embodiments, the MVM application 50 may use anobject-oriented programming language to define and copy the in-memoryelectrical network model object 56. For example, the electrical networkmodel object 56 may be an object defined in C++, C#, Java, or anothersimilar language having object oriented features. Accordingly, it shouldbe noted that “copies” of the electrical network model object 56, asused herein, may refer to a copy, instance, or clone of the electricalnetwork model object 56. Furthermore, in certain embodiments, the MVMapplication 50 may take advantage of features of certain object-orientedprogramming languages involving the efficient cloning of objects. Thatis, it should be noted that many object-oriented programming languagesinclude mechanisms by which objects may be cloned and/or instantiated insuch a way as is more efficient (e.g., in terms of processing timeand/or storage space) than manually creating a separate copy of theobject (i.e., a new object) in memory. As such, when the rule executor58 makes copies of the in-memory electrical network model object 56,these mechanisms may be utilized to improve the efficiency of theexecution of the MVM application 50. Furthermore, some of theseobject-oriented languages may additionally include distributed computingfunctionality which may allow for the instantiation or cloning ofobjects, as well as the execution of the independent rule sets 60,across any number of memories and processors in a distributed computingenvironment. As such, the MVM application 50 may take advantage of suchfeatures to enable multiple processors and memories be used such thatthe independent rule sets 60 may be verified in parallel using thesedistributed computing resources.

Accordingly, when the rule executor 58 has completed executing each ofthe independent rule sets 60 against each of the corresponding copies(e.g., object copy 62, 64, or 66) of the electrical network model object56, the rule executor 58 may output the validated electrical networkmodel 68 (e.g., a CIM-XML flat file containing the electrical networkmodel data). Furthermore, in certain embodiments, the rule executor 58may also output the results of the execution of each of the rules in theindependent rule sets 60. As such, the verified electrical network modeland the results from the execution of the various rules may betransferred to an electrical network model storage 24 (e.g., within NVstorage 20 of the MVM system 10 or within a memory of a remote databasesystem 12). In certain embodiments, all of the electrical network modelsstored in the electrical network model storage 24 may be presumed validand ready for implementation. In other embodiments, the results from theexecution of the various rules may include one or more warning messagesregarding potential concerns with the electrical network model 14 thatwere not of sufficient concern to invalidate the electrical networkmodel 14. As such, a user of the MVM application 50 may be able tosubsequently view and address these warning messages pertaining to theelectrical network model 14 prior to implementing the model in anelectrical network.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a process 80 by which the MVMapplication 50 may validate an electrical network model 14. The process80 begins when the MVM application 50 receives (block 82) electricalnetwork model data. For example, the electrical network model data maybe a flat file in CIM-XML format and may be received from a remotesystem 12 via network interface 16. Subsequently, the MVM application 50(e.g., the data transformer 54) may use the received electrical networkmodel data to create (block 84) an electrical network model object 56 inmemory (e.g., memory 18). For example, the MVM application 50 may definean object in Java having a number of attributes that are defined in theelectrical network model data. Once the electrical network model object56 has been defined, the MVM application 50 may create (block 86) a copyof the electrical network model object for each independent set ofrules. For example, these copies (e.g., object copies 62, 64, and 66) ofthe electrical network model object 56 may each be clones of theelectrical network model object 56. Once the object copies have beencreated, the MVM application 50 may validate (block 88) in parallel eachindependent set of rules against the corresponding copy of theelectrical network model object. For example, the MVM application 50 mayexecute four independent rule sets (e.g., a data structure rule set, apower phase rule set, a network connectivity rule set, and a powertransformation rule set) against four clones of the electrical networkmodel object 56, and then store the results in memory (e.g., memory 18).

The MVM application 50 may then determine if (block 90) each copy of theelectrical network model object has been validated against thecorresponding independent rule set. For example, if all of the clones ofthe electrical network model object 56 have been validated against theirrespective independent rule set, then the MVM application 50 may output(block 92) the validated electrical network model data for storage withother validated electrical network models. Additionally, in certainembodiments, the results of the execution of one or more rules in one ormore of the independent rule sets may be stored along with theelectrical network model data in electrical network model data storage24. Furthermore, if one or more copies of the electrical network modelobject fails to be validated against at least one rule in at least oneof the independent rule sets, the MVM application 50 may log (block 94)the validation failures of the electrical network model object 56 suchthat it may be reviewed at a later time.

Technical effects of the invention include enabling the efficientvalidation of electrical network models. Using the disclosed techniques,a utility company may generally improve efficiency and reduce the costby validating copies of the electrical network model in parallel againsteach independent set of rules. Furthermore, the disclosed embodimentsutilize features of certain object-oriented languages to further improvethe efficiency of the copying (i.e., cloning or instantiation) process.Furthermore, the disclosed techniques enable the validation process tobe executed by any suitable number of processors or processing cores,providing further performance gains over serialized rule-basedvalidation of electrical network models.

This written description uses examples to disclose the invention,including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the invention, including making and using any devices orsystems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope ofthe invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examplesthat occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intendedto be within the scope of the claims if they have structural elementsthat do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if theyinclude equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differencesfrom the literal language of the claims.

1. A system for validating electrical network model data comprising: acommunication interface configured to receive electrical network modeldata, wherein the electrical network model data comprises a plurality ofparameters that define the structure and operation of an electricalnetwork; a memory configured to store the electrical network model data;and data processing circuitry configured to: define in the memory anelectrical network model object based, at least in part, on theelectrical network model data; create copies of the electrical networkmodel object in the memory, wherein each copy of the electrical networkmodel object corresponds to a respective set of rules, and wherein eachset of rules independently defines a plurality of constraints relatingto at least a portion of the plurality of parameters of the electricalnetwork; and determine, in parallel, whether each copy of the electricalnetwork model object is valid with respect to the corresponding set ofrules.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the communicationinterface is configured to receive the electrical network model datafrom a geographic information system (GIS), distributed managementsystem (DMS), or outage management system (OMS).
 3. The electronicdevice of claim 1, wherein the electrical network model data is in aCommon Information Model (CIM) Extensible Markup Language (XML) format.4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one set of rulescomprises a set of rules to validate electrical phases throughout theelectrical network.
 5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein atleast one set of rules comprises a set of rules to validate networkconnectivity throughout the electrical network.
 6. The electronic deviceof claim 1, wherein at least one set of rules comprises a set of rulesto validate power transformation throughout the electrical network. 7.The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the data processing circuitryis configured to determine if each copy of the electrical network modelobject is valid with respect to the corresponding set of rules byexecuting each rule in the corresponding set of rules against the copyof the electrical network model object and storing the result in thememory.
 8. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the electricalnetwork model storage comprises a database or a version control system,and wherein the data processing circuitry is configured to transfer theelectrical network model data to the electrical network model storagewhen each copy of the electrical network model object has beendetermined to be valid.
 9. A method for validating an electrical networkmodel comprising: receiving an electrical network model, wherein theelectrical network model defines a plurality of parameters of anelectrical network; creating, in a memory, an electrical network modelobject from the electrical network model; creating, in the memory, afirst duplicate of the electrical network model object corresponding toa first independent rule set and a second duplicate of the electricalnetwork model object corresponding to a second independent rule set,wherein the first and second independent rule sets define requirementsfor the plurality of parameters of the electrical network; andsimultaneously validating the first duplicate of the electrical networkmodel object against the first independent rule set and the secondduplicate of the electrical network model object against the secondindependent rule set.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein simultaneouslyvalidating the first and second duplicates of the electrical networkmodel object comprises executing the first independent rule set againstthe first duplicate of the electrical network model object whileexecuting the second independent rule set against the second duplicateof the electrical network model object.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein the plurality of parameters of the electrical network compriseselectrical phase parameters and, wherein the first or second independentrule set defines requirements for the electrical phase parameters withinthe electrical network.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein theplurality of parameters of the electrical network comprises networkconnectivity parameters, and wherein the first or second independentrule set defines requirements for the network connectivity parameterswithin the electrical network.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein theplurality of parameters of the electrical network comprises powertransformation parameters, and wherein the first or second independentrule defines requirements for the power transformation parameters withinthe electrical network.
 14. The method of claim 9, comprising copyingthe electrical network model to a database or a version control systemwhen the first and second duplicates of the electrical network modelobject have been validated.
 15. The method of claim 9, wherein theelectrical network model is a Common Information Model (CIM) ExtensibleMarkup Language (XML) electrical network model.
 16. An article ofmanufacture comprising: one or more computer-readable media at leastcollectively storing instructions executable by a processor of anelectronic device to determine the validity of an electrical networkmodel, the instructions comprising: instructions to create an object ina memory corresponding to a received electrical network model;instructions to create a plurality of object instances, wherein each ofthe plurality of object instances corresponds to one of a plurality ofrule sets, wherein the plurality of rule sets comprise electrical phase,network connectivity, and power transformation rules sets thatrespectively define an independent plurality of electrical phase,network connectivity, and power transformation constraints of theelectrical network model; instructions to execute, in parallel, each ofthe plurality of rule sets against each of the corresponding pluralityof object instances; and instructions to store the electrical model andthe results of the execution of each of the plurality of rule sets in anelectronic storage when all of the plurality of rule sets havesuccessfully executed against the plurality of object instances.
 17. Thearticle of manufacture of claim 16, comprising instructions to store theresults of the execution of each of the plurality of rule sets in anelectronic storage when all of the plurality of rule sets have notsuccessfully executed against the plurality of object instances.
 18. Thearticle of manufacture of claim 16, wherein the instructions compriseone or more instructions written in an object-oriented programminglanguage.
 19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein theinstructions comprise one or more instructions written the Javaprogramming language, stored as Java byte-code, or any combinationthereof.
 20. The article of manufacture of claim 16, wherein theelectronic storage comprises a database or a version control system.